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disappearing trees of roath part 3

felling is proceeding apace – most of the designated trees in waterloo gardens had gone when i last visited on the weekend.

i was particularly sad to see the group of memorial magnolias cut. i’d hoped they might have been dug out and replanted.

i’ve been really heartened by the response i’ve had to this project, although dismayed at the number of people who, for whatever reason, either were uninformed or felt unheard during the consultation process.

as a park-user but non-immediate resident i have great sympathy for locals who have experienced flood events and fear worse in future. the parks were originally established around a hundred years ago (full info here). these are not ancient native trees but the result of ambitious forward thinking by local planners.

my hope is that the extensive replanting planned will mature in time to create a park as much loved, but more sustainable in the long term. there is irony in the fact that this destruction of parts of a man-made environment results directly from human influence on global climate creating increased flood risk.

edit 24 feb: since writing this post i’ve read that some of the trees predate the park enclosures, up to 200 years old. also that there has never been damage to property by flooding along the roath brook. which somewhat tempers my optimistic opinion of the works…